A friend of mine who is in the process of moving from a vague atheism/agnosticism to Christianity of some sort (it remains to be seen), asks the following:
Do you know of some Christian pro/con arguments on the Death Penalty?
I am against the death penalty myself, at least in the First World (or anywhere else where penal institutions can successfully prevent recidivism, even if they often don’t). But if anyone wants to provide good reasons, either for or against, it might make for a more dynamic answer. Here’s what I’m looking for:
- Your own views on the death penalty
- Arguments pro and con
- Answers to said arguments
- Biblical justification (he asked for “Christian pro/con arguments,” after all)
Anyways, feel free to either e-mail them to me or post them in the comment box. I’ll take whatever anyone says and try to incorporate it into the answer (as well as linking him to this post, if there are comments).
He’s in a transitional state right now, and he’s more open-minded on his views on things than most people usually are: I think his realization that there really is a God has opened him up to rethinking a lot of his earlier conclusions. So anything you say or write, please do it with a spirit of charity and evangelism!
I’ve never been comfortable with supporting the death penalty, but as my faith expanded I became firmly against it.
1) Although not the same thing (innocence v. guilt for one thing) I cannot in good conscience be both anti-abortion and pro-death penalty…for all the seemingly logical reasons I won’t reiterate.
2) The death penalty doesn’t work to reduce crime or keep the population safe. We execute more people in this country than any other democratic nation on earth, yet our violent crime rates remain steadily higher.
3) The law may be blind and objective, but those administering the law are not and never have been. The law may successfully declare in as objective way possible whether someone is guilty or not, but people (with all their personal sin, bias, prejudice, baggage) are the ones declaring sentencing. I don’t think anyone would like their “ultimate fate” put in the hands of such broken people.
4) Mandatory sentencing is really no better if it includes ultimate punishments of life in prison or death. Simply put, every situation and person is unique, and every human life (even those of harden criminals) was made to reflect the image of God. That must be respected and honored. Mandatory sentencing devalues / denies the unique reality of every situation and the image of God present in every person. It objectifies life.
4) The death penalty in this country has been used to execute innocent people. That is fact. I’m not talking about people guilty of other crimes just not the one they were killed for, either. I’m talking about people who never before committed a crime, let alone the one they were executed for. There isn’t a number of guilty executions high enough to justify even one execution of an innocent…expecially given the alternatives that a wealthy society such as ours can offer.
5) Following through on death penalties costs our state and fedearl governments more money than if those same people were simply sentanced to life in prison…even life in solitary prison.
6) The death penalty is not only violence agaisnt the criminal but also against those who administer it. What sane, healthy, loving, caring, and otherwise centered individual can inject a healthy person with poison, drop gas pellots into acid under a person’s chair, or throw an elctrical switch to litterally cook someone’s brain without themselves being tortured in the process, too.
I have more and will also comment on reasons I can appreciate for those who advocate support of the death penalty…but I need to run…
DJ|AMDG
Ok. This article was posted after my comments, but pretty neat regardless.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,527223,00.html
ALL Rite STOOGE the Catholic Church which has been FEMINIZED Naturally SUBSCRIBES to the BOOTLESS SPINELESS -THINK THINK of the SPINELESS JUDGES products of the LARCENOUS LAW SCHOOLS STOOGE like the WHOREHOUSE IVY LEAGUE SCHOOL SYSTEMS like the Historic ONE in N.H. CONN. > BAAL GOES TO YALE or the other One Located in the WHOREHOUSE IN MORNINGSIDE HTS. The INSTITUTION where the OBAMANATION got his FORGED DEGREE ! I watched the SLIMY C-SPAN where the Head SYNCOPHANT from that Historic JESUIT-Run Exclusive Expensive BEER-Drink,in High -Class CATHOLI GEORGETOWN LAW SCHOOL FETED COMMENDED EXTOLED HONORED the WICKED GERIATRIC JUDICIAL WITCH Ruth Bader-Ginsburg , yea yea Shes done sooo much for Women and furthering Their Careers in our FEMINIZED SODOMIZED Trivialized Marginalized INEFFICACIOUS NAMBY-PAMBY JUDICIAL SYSTEM here in CONSUMER BABYLON> AMERICA.NO WONDER CRIME is OUT OF CONTROL , STOOGE , here in the BLOOD BESPATTERED SUNSHINE STATE and THANKS to the FEMINIZED FLA. SUPREME CT. it is SAFER , FAR SAFER , on the Streets of HAVANNA then the STREETS of MIAMI BEACH ! THE OBTUSE PLASTICIZED PRELATES HERE as ELSEWHERES ALWAYS ALWAYS RUN to the GOV. everytime some VILE Beastly MURDERER is Set to be EXECUTED and like the NOTORIOUS Ecclesiastical SODOMITE Card. Theodore McCarrick CRIED the CROCODILE TEARS as Head of the FEMINIZED SODOMIZED EFFEMINATED ENERVATED FASTIDIOUS SQUEAMISH USCCB for DECADES UTILIZING the SPECIOUS ASSININE SOPHISTICAL ARGUMENT Advanced by ANOTHER SODOMIZED FEMINIZED PLASTICIZED PRELATE of the BLOOD -BESPATTERED City of CHICAGO , Card. BERNARDIN > THE SEAMLESS MOTH-EATEN GARMENT. THER Same STINK,IN NITE STOOGE this ECCLESIASTICAL HOMO would SODOMIZED a YOUNG SEMINARIAN! YES MR OBSEQUIOUS, Card McCarrick had THEM ALL FOOLED. THEIR HERO , Exemplar and PARADIGM was the SPIRITUAL SLUT > SR PREJEAN , remember THE STUPID HOLLYWOOD MOVIE about the Crusades of the SPIRITUAL SLUT , SR PREJEAN to EXONERATE the FILTHY MURDERERS ? THE jesus of the SPIRITUAL SLUT Wouldn,t SWAT A MOSQUITTO ! Again NO Wonder the CITIES > Especially the OSTENSIBLY HISTORIC CATH. CITIES like the BLOOD-BESPATTERED BALTIMORE , NEW ORLEANS , NYC>SODOM , FILTHADELPHIA , RICHMOND , S.F.>Thanks to ANOTHER REPROBATED CATH PELOSI NOW The TOILET BOWL of the WEST ! ST LOUIS where by the way AFTER the POPES 31 HOUR VISIT to the BLOOD-BESPATTERED CITY >BUT it was the SPECTRE of a GERIATRIC POPE and the GULLIBLE GOV. CARNHAN who submitted to the ILLOGICAL ILL-SUITED , remember this is 1999 and the END of the MOST MURDEROUS HOMICIDAL SAVAGE CENTURY in the Last 3000 YRS. so the RODENT who BLEW the HEADS of a Family of Three with a SHOTGUN at 4O FT. would not receive HIS CONDIGNED PUNISHMENT. >STOOGE , THE Crime RATE in ST LOUIS has NEVER Stopped Going UP and TODAY its THE WORST EVER, Somehow the POPES PLEA to END CAPITOL PUNISHMENT has NOT RESONATED with the Hoi Polloi of this DISGRACEFUL BLOOD-BESPATTERED Historic OSTENSIBILY CATH. MID-Western Empoverished Murderous Crime-Ridden CITY ! STOOGE here is a Critical ESSENTIAL FUNDAMENTAL CRUCIAL KEY VERSE of SOLOMONIC WISDOM which of course the LARCENOUS LAW SCHOOLS like Mario CUOMO UNIVERSITY in SOUTH BEND , IND. have REFUSED REJECTED Repudiated to THEIR OWN Damnation , Yes the WISEST Most SAGACIOUS JUDICIOUS PERSPICACIOUS MAN Who Ever Lived had some TERSE SUCCINCT Condensed CLEAR , Clear-cut , CONCISE Advice on CRININAL JUSTICE Proceedings from over 3000 YRS. AGO which RING RESOUND and REVERBERATE Down Thru the SHROUDED Centuries , don,t DON,T expect to HEAR this VERSE in YOUR LITURGIES Either YOUR PLASTIC PREACHER would never DARE EXPACIATE on this EGNIMATIC , Out-of-the Way UNNOTED Recommendation by KING SOLOMON >BECAUSE sentence against an Evil deed is not EXECUTED SPEEDILY , get it Stooge , SPEEDILY , PROMPTLY , THEREFORE the hearts of the Children of Men is FULLY set , EMBOLDENED , to Commit EVILS without any Fears . ECCL. CH 8 verse 11.